Three Willows {Harry Styles - One Direction Fan Fic}

Chapter 5:

Chapter 5:

 Kat had seen Zayn look to the seat that her father had often occupied at this hour of the morning, and as they climbed the stairs to the veranda her mind was taken back to the day Zayn had flown her and Louis back from Port Hedland.

 She knew the boundaries of her land well and knew the moment they had started flying over it. It was at that point that she had felt the greatest pain she had yet to endure.

 She hadn’t really understood losing her mother as she had been such a small child. She had missed her of course, but she had adjusted quite quickly as she just deferred her need for her mother to her father. As an adult, the void she felt knowing her father was gone, was unrelenting and seemed to be crushing her from the inside.

 She’d felt the difference and she was only in the air above it. At that moment she’d realised that nothing would ever feel the same again. Not now that he was gone. The only person she had ever totally depended upon was no longer there to protect and advise her.

 Once the homestead came into view, Kat’s breathing became shallower. She knew that most of the personnel would likely be there to meet her. To pass on their condolences. She wanted none of it. She knew her father was loved and that his staff would feel the need to express that to her, but she didn’t want to hear any of it. Hearing them and acknowledging them made it even more real.

 Zayn had touched down softly and started with his post flight ritual. She had barely spoken to him since she’d arrived at the hospital. She had once loved Zayn almost as much as she did her father, but he’d traded her love and a life with her for his job. A job that took him away for long periods of time. And she couldn’t lean on him if he wasn’t there.

 She hadn’t been able to do it when he first begged her to try and she knew she couldn’t do it now, no matter how desperately she needed him. She couldn’t become dependent on him, as he’d only end up leaving again once the job offers came flowing in as they always had. Instead she had placed all of her trust in Louis to help her get by.

 Louis who had always been there since they were teenagers . Louis who hung on her every word. Louis who she knew would never leave Three Willows. Never leave her.

 Louis had been the one she reached for first in the hospital. Louis had been the one to sit on her bed beside her all night once she’d agreed to go to a hotel before flying home the next morning. She had tucked up as tight as possible against him, her head pressed against his chest as she stared off into space, while listening to his heartbeat. Louis had been the one she deferred questions to about the arrangements for the body to be transported to Three Willows.

 It was only natural that when Zayn touched down and his attention turned to his post flight ritual for that damned helicopter, that she turned once again to Louis when he was opening the cockpit door and helping her climb down. Kat had wanted to look back to meet the warm golden brown eyes she’d  known and loved so well, but feared that should she, they would only break her heart even further.

 ~~~~~

 Zayn had watched on with a slight frown as Louis wrapped a protective arm around her while he escorted her through the gathered Station Staff. Liam had been standing by with her jeep. When she had reached him he had pulled her into a tight embrace. One in which she was stiff.

 As stoic as she had been since leaving the ICU. She had closed down and wasn’t letting anyone in. Anyone except Louis it seemed.